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PNS Daily Newscast - March 21, 2019

The nation’s acting Defense Secretary is under investigation for promoting Boeing, his former employer. Also on the Thursday rundown: The Trump administration’s spending blueprint being called a “bully budget.” Plus, a call for the feds to protect consumers from abusive lenders.

Epidemiologist Anne Wheaton with the CDC says only one in five students gets the recommended amount of sleep, which is between eight-and-a-half and nine-and-a-half hours per night. She says sleep deprivation is linked to drinking alcohol and tobacco and drug use, as well as poor academic performance.

"If you haven't had enough sleep and you're sitting in the first period of school, you have a harder time paying attention," she says. "And your memory doesn't work quite as well if you don't get enough sleep."

Wheaton says a major cause of sleep deprivation is that more than 95 percent of Missouri secondary schools start before 8:30 a.m., which doesn't give students enough time to get the recommended amount of sleep.

She also says puberty delays sleep, which means teens need more time to get going in the morning because their bodies are keeping them up later at night.

Wheaton notes the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement last year urging middle and high schools to modify start times to no earlier than 8:30 a.m., in order to help students get enough sleep and improve their overall health.

"Not getting enough sleep tends to affect your appetite so that you eat more. You're more fatigued, so you're less likely to exercise," she says. "It can impact your blood sugar, so further down the road after years of not getting enough sleep, you're more likely to develop diabetes."

There are other factors involved, but Wheaton says some school districts are resistant to later start times because it would increase costs for busing students. She says parents can also help their children practice good sleep habits by maintaining consistent bedtimes and rise times, including on weekends.